Germany: NATO doesn't want Cold War with Russia

Saturday, July 09, 2016 - 01:40

NATO members meeting in Poland call on Russia to stop backing separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine but say they want to resolve the dispute with dialogue to avoid a new Cold War. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).

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ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION).
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Saturday (July 9) condemned Russia's annexation of Crimea and called on Moscow to end its "political, military and financial support for separatists" fighting Kiev troops in east Ukraine.
Stoltenberg was speaking next to Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko after a NATO summit in Warsaw that saw the Western military alliance agreeing to boost its eastern flank in response to Moscow's annexation of Crimea from Kiev in 2014 and its subsequent backing for rebels in Ukraine's industrial east.
"We do not and we will not recognize Russia's illegal and illegitimate annexation of Crimea, " he told journalists at a briefing. "We call on Moscow to end its political, military and financial support for separatists."
But while the organization is determined to stand up for Ukraine and other former Soviet bloc countries, it hopes to resolve the problems with dialogue rather than with military force, according to French president Francois Hollande.
"We need to show firmness with Russia when it's necessary, and it was necessary. But we also need to show dialogue. Firmness allows dialogue to take place, and dialogue in turn allows us to find solutions. I think it was very important to show, from the beginning of the summit and even before, that we are not a threat, that the alliance is not in an aggressive position, that the alliance does not have an enemy," Hollande said.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier concluded by saying that the organization doesn't want to start a new Cold War with Russia.
"I would sum up the message coming from this summit in three points. First, we are taking the concerns of our eastern alliance members seriously. Second, we are strengthening our defense readiness. And third, we do not want a Cold War," he said.
NATO leaders agreed on Friday (July 8) to deploy military forces to the Baltic states and eastern Poland for the first time and increase air and sea patrols to reassure allies who were once part of the Soviet bloc following Russia's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine.
The 28-nation Western defense alliance decided to move four battalions totaling 3,000 to 4,000 troops into northeastern Europe on a rotating basis to display its readiness to defend eastern members against any Russian aggression.

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